Dramatic Play
We played in a doctor's office, complete with tools like real (and pretend) stethoscopes, bandages, medicine bottles, medicine dispensers used as shots, and other tools to check ears, eyes, and reflexes.
For some reason, that's my only picture, but you can check out last year's here for an idea.
My favorite part was, like last year, they'd sit and patiently wait in the "waiting room" for their turn. Our doctors were great at diagnosing too (and I recently learned they know the word diagnosis thanks to Doc McStuffins; I hadn't heard of her last year). We wrote our diagnosis in our notebooks for writing practice, and got a lot of good reading done about the human body too.
On Day 3, we changed a little to add dentist items, and the kids played a mixture of both doctor and dentist.
Art
We decorated faces. Some added the hair and eyes in correct spots, but most just explored with the items and made great collages.
We also painted with people-shaped sponge stamps. They asked for eyes, so I got the googly eyes back out and they ended up covering their paintings.
I loved this project because I watched 2 kids over there (who usually don't do art) playing together for 30 minutes. It's what preschool art is about....the process, not the product. They started with people and added 2 eyes (they were the ones who requested it). I was in the reading center reading to a few kids and watched these 2 transform their pictures into all different creations with the paint, stamps, and eyes. They were laughing and talking as they described the silly things they were making. Another reason I love open-ended art. I provide the supplies, and they put their imaginations and language to work.
Blocks
We built and played with Mega Blocks and cars, just because they're a favorite.
Small Manipulatives
We did a community helpers and a Doc McStuffins puzzle.
We played with the community helpers sorting we game we had done in small group last week.
Played DocMcStuffins memory.
Large Group
Day 1 we read The Amazing Human Body and talked about it. Seriously, that took the whole 15 minutes. It wasn't meant to, but we had great questions and discussion. We talked about our hearts and lungs and exercising. We found and flexed our muscles. We found our bones and skulls and blood vessels. What a fun day of discovery and vocabulary!
Day 2 we learned about germs and how they travel and enter our body. We watched a short clip from Sid the Science Kid that helped them visualize how a germ can travel from one person or thing to another, and then how washing it down the sink got rid of it. One kid sat there with his hands in front of him, totally disgusted, then got up to wash his hands once we were done. All the kids requested some sanitizer too. We then learned our new songs.
tune "Happy and You Know It"
When you go to the bathroom, wash your hands,
When you go to the bathroom, wash your hands,
When you go to the bathroom, then you need to wash your hands,
When you go to the bathroom, wash your hands.
When you need to sneeze or cough, wash your hands,
When you need to sneeze or cough, wash your hands,
When you need to sneeze or cough, then you need to wash your hands,
When you need to sneeze or cough, wash your hands!
We also sang another verse about sneezing or coughing into your elbows to not get the germs on our hands.
Day 3 we learned about keeping our teeth clean. We read a book called Going to the Dentist. We then practiced brushing teeth with our giant teeth and toothbrush. Each kid got a turn to brush, following the directions on our poster. Then I lined them up shoulder to shoulder to be the teeth, and I used a giant piece of floss to floss between them and get all the plaque out.
We has started an experiment on Tuesday, and checked on it Thursday. We had 2 boiled eggs and put one in Coke and one in water for 2 days. We compared the differences after, and talked about the effects that unhealthy food and drinks can have on our teeth. We were able to brush off some of the brown stains and talked about why it's important to brush.
We also sang the Raffi song, Brush Your Teeth.
When you wake up in the morning and it's quarter to 1, and you want to have a little fun,
You brush your teeth, ch ch ch ch, ch ch ch ch ch, you brush your teeth, ch ch ch ch, ch ch ch ch ch
...quarter to 2, and you want to find, something to do,
...quarter to 3, and your mind starts humming, tweedle dee dee,
...quarter to 4, and you think you hear a knock on the door,
...quarter to 5, and you just can't wait to come alive!
Small Groups
Week 1 we only had 1 day, so we did 2 10-minute small groups.
In one, our volunteer grandma helped the kids cut straight lines, and it was no easy task! They had 2 lines to cut on a picture with the outside and inside of the body. It was great practice for them, and lots of work.
In my group, we wrote in our journals about ways to stay safe (reviewing last week).
Week 2, we learned about healthy foods and exercise.
Our mom volunteers helped the kids sort (sneaking in some math skills) our play food into healthy and unhealthy foods. Then they drew their favorite healthy foods in their journals.
I talked to the kids about exercising. We read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle to get our bodies moving like the animals. Then I showed them a healthy bodies app on the ipad and we looked at the heart and lungs. We could make the person "run" and watched their heart beat faster and lungs go faster. Then we did some exercising to get our hearts and breathing to go fast. It was a lot of fun!
Snacks
We had to eat healthy all week, so we tried some fun things.
We tasted 4 different types of apples, then picked our favorites to color and add to our fall tree. We learned about apples growing in the fall too.
We made egg salad. They each got to peel their own boiled egg (which was tedious and time-consuming, but a good fine motor skill) then we mixed them with mayo and a little salt and pepper for our salad. They devoured it on crackers.
I don't remember the third snack, but I think it was just crackers and juice that we ate, and then also got the rare treat of watching a video during snack. Dr. Rabbit taught us about sweets and soda causing plaque, and how to fight the plaque with flossing and brushing.
You can go to Colgate's website here for more videos and games to help teach your children about dental hygiene. I know this lesson helped me be better with my own daughter (we weren't flossing and often only brushed at night, but we're doing much better!). I also printed off a chart from here, a smaller version of the classroom one I have, that shows her all the parts of her teeth we need to brush.
Congrats to all your kids who finished their homework and teeth brushing chart. They were thrilled to earn their toothbrush prize! (although 1 did ask what the real prize was :)
We wrapped up the unit with a journal entry on their favorite way to stay healthy. Most said eat strawberries. At least they learned 1 good thing!
Whew! In 3 days we covered body parts and functions, nutrition, exercise, oral health, dr and dentist visits, and germs. Hope they caught onto something here!
